Longman Dictionary of

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fore one of the features which describe /d/ and /t/. This is usually shown
like this:
/d/ [+voice] (= voice present)
/t/ [–voice] (= voice absent)
When a binary feature can be used to distinguish between two phonemes,
like voice with /d/ and /t/, the phonemes are in binary opposition (see also
DISTINCTIVE FEATURE.)
Binary features are also used to describe the semantic properties of
words (see also SEMANTIC FEATURES).
binary opposition n
see BINARY FEATURE
bioprogram hypothesis
binding principle n
(in Government/Binding Theory) a principle which states whether or not
expressions in a sentence refer to someone or something outside their
clause or sentence or whether they are ‘bound’ within it.
For example, in:
Ann hurt herself.
Ann is a REFERRING EXPRESSION referring to someone in the real world and
herself is an ANAPHOR referring to Ann. It is said to be ‘bound’ to Ann.
In the sentence:
Ann hurt her.
the her is a pronominal (see PRONOUN) which refers to another person in
the real world who may or may not have been mentioned in a previous
sentence or utterance. It is not ‘bound’ to Ann.
In second language research, investigations have been made into the
Binding Principle in languages other than English, e.g. Korean, and how
this may affect the acquisition of English.
see also BOUNDING THEORY
binding theory n
part of the GOVERNMENT/BINDING THEORY. It examines connections
between noun phrases in sentences and explores the way they relate and
refer to each other (see BINDING PRINCIPLE)
biolinguistics n
a branch of linguistics that studies language in relation to the biological
characteristics of humans, particularly features of anatomy and physiology.
bioprogram hypothesis n
the hypothesis that children are born with inborn abilities to make basic
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